As stated before, I was a massive CZW a decade ago. While the likes of Bryan Danielson, Low Ki and Samoa Joe were the big indy stars of the day, the Messiah, Trent Acid and Adam Flash were amongst my favourite wrestlers. Pretty much every EWR game I played at the time would feature the Messiah as world champ, with the Backseat Boys as tag champs. Of course, I'm pretty aware now that I wasn't really with the majority on this, so it's going to be interesting to see how this 11 year old show has aged.
Before we get to the opening match, which is the titular Cage of Death match between John Zandig and Lobo, we get a hilarious video where Zandig gets massacred by Lobo and his cronies. They kidnap him in a lorry, hurl him through barbed wire boards and even hang him from hooks through his skin. Lovely. This apparently means Zandig wont be making it to the match, but unsurprisingly, he still comes to the ring, wearing the same bloody rags he got beaten up in a few hours earlier.
Zandig Vs Lobo
We excitingly start off with a load of promos where fun stuff like legality of contracts and double-double crosses take place. To cut a long story short, Lobo has to face Zandig in the cage for the ownership of CZW, with the winner being decided by grabbing a contract hanging from the ceiling. Despite being a bloody mess who we saw getting killed earlier, Zandig totally dominates, with Lobo thrown into the electrified cage within a minute. I do quite like a Falcon Arrow onto a cactus by Zandig. Lobo finally gets a period of offence, but soon Zandig fires back and powerbombs Lobo into a table and drops another plant on him. Zandig sets up a table and a plane of glass over it before both decide to climb to the top of the cage to grab the contract. I was about to sarcastically comment how obvious it was that one of them would get thrown from the top through this table, but FUCKING HELL!! Lobo hits a death valley driver from the top of the cage through two tables OUTSIDE the ring. Absolutely mental. Though the impact of this is kinda ruined as they're back on their feet brawling again within a minute. Zandig puts Lobo on a table outside the ring, then drops an elbow on him from the top of the cage. No attempt to grab the contract. They both climb the cage, and Zandig press slams Lobo from the top through the glass table from earlier before grabbing the contract to win. Absolutely no attempt to tell a coherent story, and some of the brawling was a bit weak, but when they hit the big spots, they really went for it.
Rockin' Rebel, Greg Matthews, "Doomsday" Danny Rose, Chris Cash & GQ vs Chris Stylz, Ian Knoxx, Derek Frazier, Jon Dahmer & Adam Flash
Wrestlers in this match I was convinced 10 years ago would go on to become big stars: Knoxx and Matthews. I was an idiot. This is an elimination match, so expect this to be a bit of a clusterfuck. A few early dives are pretty fun, especially Flash diving onto everyone into the aisleway. Some of the early exchanges with Frazier taking on Cash, Rebel and Matthews are pretty fun, before Matthews pins Frazier with a Snow Plow. Rebel takes out Stylz with a fireball to the eyes and a huge legdrop to make it 5 on 3. Flash takes Matthews out with a top rope facebuster to help the numbers. Flash falls victim to the numbers game as Rose and Rebel team up to eliminate him, with a Rose death valley driver followed by a Rebel legdrop for the pin. Flash decides he's not leaving yet and levels Rebel with a chairshot whilst Dahmer comes in and nails Rose with a lariat allowing Dahmer to pin both men simultaneously. Weak section. Knoxx looks really good here, and it's a shame injuries caught up with him to the extent they did. GQ manages to maintain his one-botch-per-match average by missing a top rope stomp to Dahmer's head. Things break down and Dahmer hits GQ with the Move of 1000 Maniacs to eliminate him. Despite being down 2-to-1, Cash manages to eliminate his two larger opponents, hitting a top rope Cash Flo on Knoxx and a facebuster on Dahmer to be the sole survivor. CZW were clearly looking to give Cash a big push, and he looked really impressive here.
Z-Barr vs Rick Feinberg & the Hurricane Kid
Feinberg was CZW's very subtle parody of the RoH owner Rob Feinstein, a flamboyant camp character, whose ring music was Abba's "Dancing Queen". The commentary seems to suggest that this match is the result of a romantic interlude in a truck between Feinberg and Barr. Obviously. Feinberg and Kid dominate to start, but essentially they're comedy jobbers and Barr soon takes over. Decent tope by Barr takes both down. Feinberg kisses Barr midring, so Barr destroys him with some weak offence. Everything here is slow and telegraphed as the crowd starts to turn on the match. Barr dominates a bit more, before pinning Feinberg with the Donkey Punch. Not very good.
Nick Berk vs Josh Prohibition
This is a submission match. I like both guys, with some reservations, so this should be decent. They trade a few holds, before Prohibition ups the tempo with a suicide dive. The commentators talk up a previous Berk neck injury as Prohibition locks on an Indian deathock. Prohibition keeps on the neck, both with holds and impact offence. Berk hooks on a nice reverse cattle mutilation. A seated guillotine by JP keeps the offence focused on Berk's neck. In an odd spot, Prohibtion hits the Straight Edge and goes for a futile pin. This gives Berk time to recover and lock on a Scorpion. Prohibition nails Berk with brass knucks and locks in a surfboard half-nelson called the Path of Resistance, but Ian Knoxx comes out to distract him, based on a "boozing vs teetotal" feud. This gives Berk time to fire back with a powerbomb, and lock in a Texas2K2 Cloverleaf for the tap. Prohibition really carried this match, as his offence was focused on one body part and made sense due to Berk's known injury. In contrast, Berk just locked on some submission holds without bodypart focus. This was ok, but should've been better.
M-Dogg 20 vs Sonjay Dutt vs Ruckus
The winner of this match becomes the no.1 contender to Trent Acid's CZW Jr Heavyweight title. If this is anything but a spotfest, I'll be shocked. Some of M-Dogg's early stuff looks a bit sloppy, though in fairness they run through a series of reversals that looks super-slick before throwing Dutt from the ring. M-Dogg nails the first bit of offence that actually looks hurty by catching Dutt in midair and ramming him into the turnbuckles. Dogg also hits an awesome highspot, by diving onto his two opponents outside the ring with a huge number of twists. A subsequent Dutt dive is both less impressive and manages to barely hit his opponents. Dogg gets the next swank highspot by getting elevated up a pillar, climbing further up then diving 12ft onto his opponents. A slightly clumsy Tower of Doom spot doesn't come off as well as you suspect they'd intended. M-Dogg tries an overly complicated double DDT that looks like shit. Chris Cash comes out to interfere, but gets beaten up by all 3 competitors, thus totally taking the shine off his big win from earlier. They spend about 3 minutes destroying Cash before getting back to the match. Dutt picks up the win by reversing another overly complex M-Dogg move into a pin and grabbing the tights to win. Frustrating match, which was really fun in places, then boneheadedly awful in others.
The H8 Club vs Chris Hero & B-Boy
Hero cuts a pre-match promo, declaring himself IWA-MS through and through. Man, I forgot how intimidating the H8 Club looked. Hero does a great job schticking it up in fear of Nate Hatred. I always liked Hatred, he always came across as a dominant beast and wrestled like a monster should. The H8 Club pretty much beat the shit out of Hero to start. It takes B-Boy coming in and dropkicking Hatred's leg to give them an advantage. This doesn't last long as Hatred takes his head off with a clothesline. B-Boy finally gets a prolonged period of offence after hitting a twisting neckbreaker on Nick Gage. Hero's cravate-plex on Gage is pretty choice. B-Boy is pretty stiff on offence, and Gage seems happy to take it, so this period of offence is plenty fun, before Gage nails a brainbuster on B-Boy. Hatred just kills guys on the hot tag, blitzing Hero with chairshots. They pancake Hero on a flat table on the floor, which absolutely has to suck. B-Boy gets a very close two after a Shining Wizard on Gage. Decapitator by Hatred turns B-Boy inside out and gets the win. After the match, the H8 Club continue to kill Hero whilst B-Boy leaves him to die. Quite fun, they certainly presented B-Boy as the stronger link of the team here, and it's always enjoyable watching the H8 Club kills guys.
The Backseat Boys vs Ric Blade & "Sick" Nick Mondo
We open with a lengthy sequence of reversals that almost feels like a dance routine, before the face team of Mondo and Blade hit stereo dives on the Backseats. Weaponry is swiftly brought into the ring and a ladder is balanced over two chairs, which Acid puts Blade through with a Blue Thunder Driver. Trent goes to hit a tornado DDT on Mondo onto a ladder, but Mondo reverses into a Northern Lights suplex onto the same ladder. The Backseats remain one step ahead, playing up their tag team familiarity, hurling Blade into another ladder in the corner. They split up, Kashmere and Blade fighting in the crowd as Acid and Mondo stay in the ring. Apparently this is Blade's first match back in 18 months, so obviously putting him into a TLC match makes perfect sense. He's also the worst wrestler in the match, all milky strikes and average flips. Everyone else at least looks like they're hurting their opponents. Splitting up has hurt the Backseats, as both faces take control and they reunite to set up the Backseats on tables next to the balcony, with a ladder drapped over both of them. Blade and Mondo then hit stereo moonsaults on the ladder/Backseats/table sandwich. Unsurprisingly, the faces look in worse shape after that. Back in the ring, they've learnt nothing, hitting dives from the top rope onto another ladder sandwiching the Backseats and AGAIN hurting themselves. Blade hits a legdrop from the top of what must be a 15ft high ladder onto Kashmere, which only gets two. Trent Acid has recovered in this time and takes Blade out, giving the Backseats time to double team Mondo, then both diving through a Ric Blade-covered table. Kashmere puts a ladder round his neck, Terry Funk style, but Mondo stomps on the ladder in a nasty looking bump. The match ends with Mondo getting thrown through a ringside table and the Backseats sandwich Blade in a ladder to win. Spotty as all Hell, but ridiculously entertaining, and the story of the Backseats dominating in a team environment, but suffering when separated, made total sense. The faces were too daredevil to survive, taking bumps even when on offence, and the Backseats were able to hold out longer.
Justice Pain vs the Messiah
Both hold gold here, with Messiah holding the Iron Man title whilst competing for Pain's world title. This is apparently under Iron Man rules, which essentially means anything goes. Messiah is one step ahead of Pain in the opening minutes, until Pain suplexes him into the turnbuckles. I like Pain catching Messiah mid-leapfrog and slamming him down. Messiah is able to come back with a killer tornado DDT. They end up outside the ring, and the logic of booking another hardcore brawl right after the tag TLC is pretty odd. Messiah goes for a cannonball off the apron, but misses and lands on a non-breaking table. Swanky neck-snap on the floor by Pain. Blockbuster gets two in the ring, and Pain is looking pretty good here. His movement and execution is great. He also takes a killer bump as he flies into the guardrail off an Irish whip. They blow a Pain dropkick into a chair, so Pain levels Messiah with a chairshot for two. Insane bump as Pain stands on the apron and Messiah throws himself at him, sending both men onto a pile of chairs on the floor. Nick Gage comes in for a totally pointless run-in, nailing both guys with big moves, though he does helpfully pour a bag of thumbtacks on the canvas. Messiah hits a cutter on Pain onto the tacks for two. The Fall From Grace (running burning hammer) onto the tacks only gets two. Pain gets the Pain Thriller (barely on the tacks) for two. A top rope superplex by Messiah onto the tacks gets a more direct hit, but only gets two. After all that, the Messiah is finally able to pick up the win...with a crucifix. Well, I suppose he's the right man to have perfected that move. Decent main event fight, this is probably the best I've seen Pain look.
Sunday, 23 February 2014
Sunday, 2 February 2014
All Star Wrestling 14/03/2001
This is a show I bought from IVP Videos, which is being sold there under the title "Best of the UK V.55". It's handheld footage from an All Star show in Plymouth from 13 years ago, and had an interesting enough line up to convince me to check it out. It also comes with bonus matches at the end, which is nice
Legend of Doom vs Mustafa the Turk
LoD is Johnny South in his Road Warrior tribute/rip-off gimmick. Mustafa, bless him, is a generic "evil foreigner" heel. Mustafa dominates to start, before LoD sends him from the ring with a series of clotheslines. South grabs Mustafa's leg out from under him, toppling the big man like a tree, which gets a nice pop, and some brawling in the crowd also gets a good reaction. They work a rest hold into the match, and already South is selling more than the real LoD normally would. A missed avalanche in the corner sees Mustafa take a big spill to the floor, and back inside LoD nails a second-rope clothesline to pick up the win. Perfectly decent wrestling.
American Avalanche vs David Sierra
It's PN News vs the Cuban Assassin in a battle of former WCW stars. Sierra is accompanied by his manager Fantasy, and the camcorder zooms RIGHT IN on her breasts as they approach the ring. Sigh. Sierra attacks from behind, but makes the mistake of attacking the vast stomach of Avalanche. Avalanche keeps it simple, whilst working in crowdpleasing spots like holding onto a headlock when Sierra tries to fire him into the ropes. The headlock is held a tad too long though, and they bizarrely do the arm dropping spot on Sierra, who managed to get his arm up on two, despite being heel. Big bump is taken over top as Avalanche missed his namesake move in the corner. A 2nd rope cannonball senton misses, but AA gets fired up by the "belly" chants. An Avalanche DDT puts both men down, they then do a double clothesline spot to keep them down longer. Sierra tries using his Cuban flag on Avalanche, which the ref prevents, and the distraction lets AA hit a standing avalanche for the win. Not one to remember.
Marty Jannetty vs Totoru
Man, we certainly didn't get Marty Jannetty when I went to an All Star show 2 years after this. Totoru is a masked chap, allegedly from Thailand, in Super Dragon-esque pyjamas who trips as he comes into the ring. After Totoru spends ages stalling, he suckers Jannetty into posing on the turnbuckle, then attacks him. After Jannetty gets the upper hand, Totoru exits the ring and stalls for even longer. Jannetty dominates, throwing Totoru from the ring with a sunset flip, where he gets bullied by kids. For some reason, Totoru's trousers fall down, just fucking awful "comedy". Totoru gets back in the ring, and in the process of pulling himself to his feet, he pulls ref trousers down. Oh, hilarious. At this point, the ring announcer announces that 10 minutes have gone by, 10 minutes where we've seen barely any fucking wrestling. Jannetty misses a corner charge, giving Totoru his only offensive flurry, where he repeatedly whips Marty to the corner. Marty even cracks out the 360 degree clothesline spell, which is wasted on a load like Totoru. This lasts barely a minute, before Jannetty reverses a backdrop into a facebuster for three. A steaming sack of shit.
Chad Malenko vs Jonny Storm
You may know Malenko better as Chad Collyer, so this has the chance of being decent. Hilariously, he still has the initials "CC" on his trunks. Malenko tries to get a "USA" chant going for some easy heat. Nice little mat sequence gets us warmed up. I love the simple touches, where Storm asks the crowd if he should wrench Malenko's arm again, while Malenko shakes his head. They work a nice sequence of counters and reversals, which ends with Storm on top, which must seem like manna from the Gods for this crowd after some of the earlier toss on this show. Malenko takes control and slows things down with a chinlock. He sends Storm high into the air with a massive flapjack. This is being worked very simply, like a good TV match, with Storm getting a few hope spots on his comebacks before Malenko cuts him off. Makes sense, as this isn't a crowd that wants long indy-style matches (which these guys could certainly do). Top rope rana and a moonsault press by Storm gets a good reaction from the crowd. The end comes as Malenko blocks a second top rope rana and hits a tornado DDT for the win. Really enjoyed this.
James Mason & the Legend of Doom vs Hollywood Blonde & Bad Brad the Nasty Boy
Poor James Mason must feel left out at not getting an early 90's tag gimmick to work here. Couldn't he have been "the Natural Disaster" James Mason or something? This is a tables match. No idea who are portraying the heels, but Blonde looks like Brian Pillman playing at being Curt Hennig. The match starts and Bad Brad can hardly bump on an armdrag. Bodes well. Blonde at least looks competent, but Brad is working lighter than a feather. A brief heat spell sees a hot tag to Mason, and he looks top drawer here, hitting a sweet flipping senton. He gets caught by a Blonde DDT though to become face-in-peril. Blonde works in some nice heel spots on the apron, while his useless partner distracts the ref. Mason gets his comeback from out of nowhere, almost as if he just decided that Brad was too shit to keep selling for. The faces clean house, as the crowd start getting excited about seeing a table spot. It soon comes, as Mason blocks a top rope superplex attempt by the Blonde to put him through a table. The fact that this was still fun despite Bad Brad being utter shit is a testament to the work of the other three.
The crowd disperses as the MC offers photo opportunites with the Cuban Assassin and the camera zooms in on his manager's backside. So classy.
The two bonus matches at the end comes from an All Star show in Bristol from 22/2/01.
Jonny Storm vs Chad Malenko
This was filmed 3 weeks prior to the other match, so it'll be interesting if they just had a stock touring match. Seemingly not, as Malenko stomps the shit out of Storm in the corner to start. No mat work, just the more muscular Malenko hammering away on Storm. Storm sends him packing with some dropkicks, playing up his speed advantage. There is a mat section after this, but it's nice to see they mixed it up a little bit. They're definately working some different bits into this match, with Malenko doing a nice little showboat by running round whilst holding a delayed vertical suplex. Malenko keeps control on Jonny, with a nice single leg crab and an STF. Jonny's comeback here includes a nice rana in the middle of the ring, but Malenko catches him leaping off the top for another rana and plants him with a powerbomb for three. Another good bout between these two.
The Barbarian vs American Avalanche
This is joined in progress. I'd have fucking loved to have seen the Barbarian in action when I went to All Star. Barbarian is busy nailing AA with a chair as we come in. He misses a diving headbutt and a DDT puts him down, totally going against all wrestling has taught me about him having a hard head. Avalanche splashes a chair onto Barbarian for two. A chairshot to the head gets the win for Avalanche. Short and sweet.
Legend of Doom vs Mustafa the Turk
LoD is Johnny South in his Road Warrior tribute/rip-off gimmick. Mustafa, bless him, is a generic "evil foreigner" heel. Mustafa dominates to start, before LoD sends him from the ring with a series of clotheslines. South grabs Mustafa's leg out from under him, toppling the big man like a tree, which gets a nice pop, and some brawling in the crowd also gets a good reaction. They work a rest hold into the match, and already South is selling more than the real LoD normally would. A missed avalanche in the corner sees Mustafa take a big spill to the floor, and back inside LoD nails a second-rope clothesline to pick up the win. Perfectly decent wrestling.
American Avalanche vs David Sierra
It's PN News vs the Cuban Assassin in a battle of former WCW stars. Sierra is accompanied by his manager Fantasy, and the camcorder zooms RIGHT IN on her breasts as they approach the ring. Sigh. Sierra attacks from behind, but makes the mistake of attacking the vast stomach of Avalanche. Avalanche keeps it simple, whilst working in crowdpleasing spots like holding onto a headlock when Sierra tries to fire him into the ropes. The headlock is held a tad too long though, and they bizarrely do the arm dropping spot on Sierra, who managed to get his arm up on two, despite being heel. Big bump is taken over top as Avalanche missed his namesake move in the corner. A 2nd rope cannonball senton misses, but AA gets fired up by the "belly" chants. An Avalanche DDT puts both men down, they then do a double clothesline spot to keep them down longer. Sierra tries using his Cuban flag on Avalanche, which the ref prevents, and the distraction lets AA hit a standing avalanche for the win. Not one to remember.
Marty Jannetty vs Totoru
Man, we certainly didn't get Marty Jannetty when I went to an All Star show 2 years after this. Totoru is a masked chap, allegedly from Thailand, in Super Dragon-esque pyjamas who trips as he comes into the ring. After Totoru spends ages stalling, he suckers Jannetty into posing on the turnbuckle, then attacks him. After Jannetty gets the upper hand, Totoru exits the ring and stalls for even longer. Jannetty dominates, throwing Totoru from the ring with a sunset flip, where he gets bullied by kids. For some reason, Totoru's trousers fall down, just fucking awful "comedy". Totoru gets back in the ring, and in the process of pulling himself to his feet, he pulls ref trousers down. Oh, hilarious. At this point, the ring announcer announces that 10 minutes have gone by, 10 minutes where we've seen barely any fucking wrestling. Jannetty misses a corner charge, giving Totoru his only offensive flurry, where he repeatedly whips Marty to the corner. Marty even cracks out the 360 degree clothesline spell, which is wasted on a load like Totoru. This lasts barely a minute, before Jannetty reverses a backdrop into a facebuster for three. A steaming sack of shit.
Chad Malenko vs Jonny Storm
You may know Malenko better as Chad Collyer, so this has the chance of being decent. Hilariously, he still has the initials "CC" on his trunks. Malenko tries to get a "USA" chant going for some easy heat. Nice little mat sequence gets us warmed up. I love the simple touches, where Storm asks the crowd if he should wrench Malenko's arm again, while Malenko shakes his head. They work a nice sequence of counters and reversals, which ends with Storm on top, which must seem like manna from the Gods for this crowd after some of the earlier toss on this show. Malenko takes control and slows things down with a chinlock. He sends Storm high into the air with a massive flapjack. This is being worked very simply, like a good TV match, with Storm getting a few hope spots on his comebacks before Malenko cuts him off. Makes sense, as this isn't a crowd that wants long indy-style matches (which these guys could certainly do). Top rope rana and a moonsault press by Storm gets a good reaction from the crowd. The end comes as Malenko blocks a second top rope rana and hits a tornado DDT for the win. Really enjoyed this.
James Mason & the Legend of Doom vs Hollywood Blonde & Bad Brad the Nasty Boy
Poor James Mason must feel left out at not getting an early 90's tag gimmick to work here. Couldn't he have been "the Natural Disaster" James Mason or something? This is a tables match. No idea who are portraying the heels, but Blonde looks like Brian Pillman playing at being Curt Hennig. The match starts and Bad Brad can hardly bump on an armdrag. Bodes well. Blonde at least looks competent, but Brad is working lighter than a feather. A brief heat spell sees a hot tag to Mason, and he looks top drawer here, hitting a sweet flipping senton. He gets caught by a Blonde DDT though to become face-in-peril. Blonde works in some nice heel spots on the apron, while his useless partner distracts the ref. Mason gets his comeback from out of nowhere, almost as if he just decided that Brad was too shit to keep selling for. The faces clean house, as the crowd start getting excited about seeing a table spot. It soon comes, as Mason blocks a top rope superplex attempt by the Blonde to put him through a table. The fact that this was still fun despite Bad Brad being utter shit is a testament to the work of the other three.
The crowd disperses as the MC offers photo opportunites with the Cuban Assassin and the camera zooms in on his manager's backside. So classy.
The two bonus matches at the end comes from an All Star show in Bristol from 22/2/01.
Jonny Storm vs Chad Malenko
This was filmed 3 weeks prior to the other match, so it'll be interesting if they just had a stock touring match. Seemingly not, as Malenko stomps the shit out of Storm in the corner to start. No mat work, just the more muscular Malenko hammering away on Storm. Storm sends him packing with some dropkicks, playing up his speed advantage. There is a mat section after this, but it's nice to see they mixed it up a little bit. They're definately working some different bits into this match, with Malenko doing a nice little showboat by running round whilst holding a delayed vertical suplex. Malenko keeps control on Jonny, with a nice single leg crab and an STF. Jonny's comeback here includes a nice rana in the middle of the ring, but Malenko catches him leaping off the top for another rana and plants him with a powerbomb for three. Another good bout between these two.
The Barbarian vs American Avalanche
This is joined in progress. I'd have fucking loved to have seen the Barbarian in action when I went to All Star. Barbarian is busy nailing AA with a chair as we come in. He misses a diving headbutt and a DDT puts him down, totally going against all wrestling has taught me about him having a hard head. Avalanche splashes a chair onto Barbarian for two. A chairshot to the head gets the win for Avalanche. Short and sweet.
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